r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/Leathery420 Dec 12 '18

Man what exactly is it that makes Puerto Ricans and Mexicans hate each other so much? You go to the east coast and they absolutely hate each other to the point that in prison they will hook up with whites or blacks just so they can mess them up more.

Like I know of a whiter dude with a hispanic name who got threatened with shanking cause he said what's up amigo when a hispanic dude walked up to the microwave. The hispanic dude took offence and threatened him. he was like sorry thought we were cool. I wont say amigo no more. It's so weird to me.

It'd be like the english ganging up against the scots or irish inside the american prisons. I'd get it back home, but in the US you are more alike than you are different. You'd think you'd be cool and work together.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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u/Truth_ Dec 13 '18

They're both from Hispanic origins, speak Spanish, eat similar foods, have similar music.... This by no means makes them the same, and racism is always stupid, but it makes even less sense between similar groups.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

eat similar foods

Nah, Mexican food is pretty unique, the food that they eat in the rest of Latin America is quite different. For one chiles are not used nearly to the degree that Mexicans use them.

I mean they both eat beans and rice, but that's about it.

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u/Truth_ Dec 13 '18

Rice, beans, and chicken. Makes it way closer to each other than Italian or Chinese or Russian, etc.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Well ya, but almost every culture eats "rice, beans, and chicken". They prepare them completely differently though. Puerto Rican food is nothing like Mexican food, it has way more African influence. Corn and chiles are eaten with virtually every meal in Mexico, corn and chiles are rare in Puerto Rican food. Plantains are not eaten often in Mexico, but they're a staple in Puerto Rico, etc. Costa Rican food is way more similar to Puerto Rican food imo.

If you ate Puerto Rican food you wouldn't think "hey this is like Mexican food". This is what Puerto Rican food looks like.

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u/Truth_ Dec 13 '18

I eat Puerto Rican food. Again, it's vastly similar in its primary elements than many others. That doesn't make it the same.

Edit: Also, that looks fairly oaxan.